's-harps.
With this collection of valuables, Monsieur Le Quoi had stepped behind a
counter, and, with a wonderful pliability of temper, had dropped into his
assumed character, as gracefully as he had ever moved in any other. The
gentleness and suavity of his manners, rendered him extremely popular; besides
this, the women soon discovered that he had a taste; his calicoes were the
finest, or, in other words, the most showy, of any that were brought into the
country; and it was impossible to look at the prices, asked for his goods, by so
pretty a spoken man. Through these conjoint means, the affairs of Monsieur Le
Quoi were again in a prosperous condition, and he was looked up to by the
settlers as the second best man on the Patent.
    This term, Patent, which we have already used, and for which we may have
further occasion, meant the district of country that had been originally granted
to old Major Effingham, by the King's letters patent, and which had now become,
by purchase under the act of confiscation, the property of Marmaduke Temple. It
was a term in common use, throughout the new parts of the state, and was usually
annexed to the landlord's name, as, Temple's, or Effingham's Patent.
    Major Hartmann was the descendant of a man, who, in company with a number of
his countrymen, had emigrated, with their families, from the banks of the Rhine,
to those of the Mohawk. This migration had occurred as far back as the reign of
Queen Anne; and their descendants were now living, in great peace and plenty, on
the fertile borders of that beautiful stream.
    The Germans, or High Dutchers, as they were called, to distinguish them from
the original, or Low Dutch colonists, were a very peculiar people. They
possessed all the gravity of the latter, without any of their phlegm; and, like
them, the High Dutchers were industrious, honest, and economical.
    Fritz, or Frederick Hartmann, was an epitome of all the vices and virtues,
foibles and excellencies, of his race. He was passionate, though silent,
obstinate, and a good deal suspicious of strangers; of immoveable courage,
inflexible honesty, and undeviating in his friendships. Indeed, there was no
change about him, unless it were from grave to gay. He was serious by months,
and jolly by weeks. He had, early in their acquaintance, formed an attachment
for Marmaduke Temple, who was the only man, that could